Share this:

The 17-year-old Japanese sprinter wowed the track and field world last week with his 10.01-second time in the 100-meter dash at the Mikio Oda Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan. That mark tied a junior world record shared by Darrel Brown of Trinidad & Tobago and Jeff Demps of the United States (and formerly of the New England Patriots).

Kiryu has his sights on the Japanese record of 10.00 seconds at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix this weekend — he reportedly hopes to run a 9.96 — and looks forward to having the opportunity to face off against the world’s best before long.

“Having come this far, I want to become the first [Japanese sprinter] to run under 10 seconds,” he told the Hurriyet Daily News. “If I tune up thoroughly, I can run 10.00. … I want to run alongside [Usain] Bolt [at the world championships] and see how he is different from me.”

Check out Kiryu’s record run in the video below, with a hat tip to the Huffington Post.